© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Aged FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud prices over the crumple of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, exits the Massive apple federal court docket in Contemporary York City, U.S. February 16, 2023. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz 
By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sam Bankman-Fried was hit with fresh prison prices on Thursday, in an expanded indictment accusing the founder of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange of conspiring to develop more than 300 illegal political donations.
Bankman-Fried now faces 12 prison prices, including four for fraud and eight for conspiracy, up from eight prices in an earlier indictment, to which he has pleaded no longer guilty.
Prosecutors maintain accused Bankman-Fried of stealing billions of bucks in FTX buyer funds to dawdle losses at Alameda Overview, his crypto-focused hedge fund.
The fresh prices add to stress on the 30-one year-historical aged billionaire, who has considered two of his aged prime lieutenants plead guilty.
Bankman-Fried is furthermore trying to remain out of detention heart, after his on-line activity since his arrest precipitated U.S. District Mediate Lewis Kaplan, who oversees the case, to notice a willingness to revoke his $250 million bail kit.
A spokesman for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.
Bankman-Fried's trial is slated for October. Kaplan on Thursday prolonged a temporary ban on Bankman-Fried's contacting FTX and Alameda workers to March 3 from Feb. 24.
The fresh indictment acknowledged Bankman-Fried conspired with two aged FTX executives to donate hundreds of thousands of bucks in assert to lead lawmakers to pass legislation favorable to the firm.
These donations maintain been illegal because they maintain been made with "straw" donors or company funds, enabling Bankman-Fried - actually apt some of the biggest donors to Democrats within the 2022 midterm elections - to evade contribution limits, prosecutors acknowledged.
LGBTQ DONATION
Prosecutors acknowledged Bankman-Fried directed one govt to donate basically to left-leaning candidates and organizations and the opposite to Republicans, with many donations funded by Alameda and including FTX buyer funds.
The indictment acknowledged a political handbook working for Bankman-Fried if truth be told helpful actually apt some of the executives, identified as CC-1, that "you being the center left face of our spending will suggest you giving to lots of woke shit for transactional capabilities."
That govt gave more than $1 million to a official-LGBTQ team at Bankman-Fried's route, the indictment acknowledged.
Federal Election Rate details declare that Nishad Singh, FTX's aged engineering chief, contributed $1.1 million on July 7, 2022 to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a nationwide group dedicated to electing overtly LGBTQ folk.
In a statement, the team acknowledged it has "objective aside funds and would possibly per chance maybe objective take appropriate motion after we receive guidance from authorities."
A legal official for Singh did no longer right this moment acknowledge to a count on of for comment.
After founding FTX in 2019, Bankman-Fried rode a development within the price of Bitcoin and other digital property to achieve an estimated $26 billion fortune.
His exchange collapsed in November amid a flurry of buyer withdrawals over concerns the exchange was commingling property with Alameda.
'DREAD OF THIS DAY'
When it became decided FTX would possibly per chance maybe no longer meet withdrawal requires, Bankman-Fried directed Alameda to promote property to pay the exchange's clients, prosecutors acknowledged.
The indictment acknowledged that on Nov. 6, five days earlier than FTX's financial extinguish filing, Bankman-Fried forwarded CC-1 a message from Caroline Ellison, then Alameda's chief govt.
"I stunning had an rising fright of within the interim that was weighing on me for an extraordinarily prolonged time," Ellison wrote, "and now that it be in actuality occurring it stunning feels tall to win it over with one components or one other."
Ellison and aged FTX expertise chief Gary Wang pleaded guilty to fraud prices in December and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
The fresh prices against Bankman-Fried encompass conspiracies to commit financial institution fraud and efficiency an unlicensed money transmitting industry.
Prosecutors acknowledged Bankman-Fried if truth be told helpful a unnamed California financial institution he wished to commence an sage for a buying and selling firm, but intended the sage to route of deposits and withdrawals for FTX clients.
The financial institution had beforehand if truth be told helpful Bankman-Fried it was unwilling to route of such transactions, the indictment read.
